skillet cornbread salad {panzanella}

This savory cornbread is really hearty with a nice crunch. The first night we ate it with corned beef and cabbage. Next I made a Mexican inspired salad. I got the idea for this here.

If I make it again I will cut the salt by one half which might release more of the natural sweetness of the corn, since the recipe calls for no sugar. It was perfect straight out of the oven with a teaspoon of maple syrup drizzled on top.

{skillet cornbread recipe}

But then what to do with the whole loaf? In researching a plan I came across How Sweet It Is' Black Bean and Cornbread Panzanella. I was intrigued. What was panzanella? It turns out to be a Florentine tomato and bread crumb salad dish which was originally made with only onions and toast, topped with oil and vinegar. Today it can be all kinds of things. Smitten Kitchen's Corn Bread Salad
includes lots of tomatoes, which works in summer but now is not a great idea, unless you like them hot-housed.

So I opted for the more Mexican style that How Sweet It Is went with and I was not sorry I did. It was a fresh breath of summer in these teasing days of spring when the green grass and warm sun are just fingertips away, you can almost smell them.

{salad recipe}